My Teal Minis Swap partner likes country colors and I hope she likes the super simple quilting. I didn't want to distract from the piecing and I always struggle finding a thread color that "disappears" when the top is so scrappy. I think the minimal quilting is good enough, let's hope she likes it!!

The extra goodies are a needle book (made with a quilting practice piece, the pages are pieces of felt sheets and the binding is the same as the mini's back). I also added a heart shaped closure button and I used the sames to add 3D elements to the mini. For the closure loop I used one of those ribbons that wrap fabric bundles: nothing go to waste in this house!! :)

I also made a Xmas decoration on red aida (more next week when I will have a bunch of them I hope).

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Back with some progress for my Stephen King project.

Song of Susannah and The Drawing of the Three

I will eventually share the patterns on Fandom in Stitches... if you want them before, just send me an email or leave a comment with your contact info and I will send it your way!

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

I made this little piece for the forth challenge of Project Quilting (season 7). I had a double challenge for myself: follow the theme of the PQ challenge ("Need a Vacation") and have a piece inspired by a "conventional" art piece (painting, sculpture, architecture, ...).

I really like the weird shapes and general compositions of Salvador Dali and Vacation to me means a nice sunset. I think I combined the two in an effective way with some applique, quilting and thread sketching.

If you are new around here, let me just point you to my main addiction: designing and sharing for free tons of paper piecing patterns :)

As you can see from one of my old headers arrangement, I design patterns for Disney characters, Peanuts and Snoopy, Downton Abbey, Alice in Wonderland but I have many many more (Maleficent, The Simpsons, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Betty Boop, Minions and more)!! Some of them have to be tested, some of there are tested. You can find them just navigating the different tabs or just typing the character name in the search box at the top of the page.

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Speaking of art and quilts...

An event coming up on this blog: the Fall edition of my "Art with Fabric Blog Hop"!!

This is the current schedule: look how many AMAZING artists are going to join!!
It is going to be so fun and full of inspiration!!!

If you are new around here, let me just point you to my main addiction: designing and sharing for free tons of paper piecing patterns :)

As you can see from one of my old headers arrangement, I design patterns for Disney characters, Peanuts and Snoopy, Downton Abbey, Alice in Wonderland but I have many many more (Maleficent, The Simpsons, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Betty Boop, Minions and more)!! Some of them have to be tested, some of there are tested. You can find them just navigating the different tabs or just typing the character name in the search box at the top of the page.

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So let me tell you their story!

Everything started with my obsession about Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" and the amazing work of Adam Lister (adamlistergallery.com).

When I read about the AMB challenge, the use of solids (and just solids) didn't make me very excited (I don't like solids, don't hate me please :) ). However I thought that it could be the best excuse to finally put Van Gogh's painting down to fabric! But how exactly? I started googling around images of the painting and I came across Adam's wonderful "pixellated" reproductions of classic art and famous characters. As soon as I saw his version of the painting I had the moment "That's it! That's exactly what I was looking for!". I immediately got in touch with him and he was very kind and curious to see how his art would translate into fabric!

Now the difficult part: how can I reproduce this look and keep somehow the spirit of Van Gogh's irregular impressionistic look?
Raw edge applique and thread painting look the only reasonable option!
Of course I never tried any of these technique :) but luckily July tutorial of my series "Stretch Your Skills" was exactly that! So thanks to the wonderful tips and instructions by Kristel (wipgirl) I was able to make a little practice piece that gave me the confidence I needed to attack the big project!

A lot of designing, cutting, fusing and sewing later, this is what I had!

The irregular edges of the different pieces, combined with the irregular crossing of the quilting makes the piece really "impressionist" (IMHO).
I didn't want to add any distraction with the binding, so I used a pillow case method to finish it.And this mini WAS ACCEPTED in the 40 (out of 230 submitted) minis for the Road to California exhibit!!

Since I didn't have white as leftover but blues, I decided to play with the colors and this was the result. It's very simple and the quilting is random straight lines to echo the simple shapes that Mondrian is famous to paint.

This quilt was not accepted in the exhibit, but I still think it's pretty and it balances the impressionistic look of "Vincent"!

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If you have any comment about these quilts, I would love to hear!!!
And check out more wonderful applique quilts over at blogger's quilt festival!!

I finally assembled the baby quilt from Melissa's Summer Solstice QAL.This is where the "curvy week" started :)

I think the design is really beautiful!!

I love the effect of the circle in the middle and the curved border. I will just have to remember to use more stable fabric: I used fabric donated for charity quilts, and some of it was much thinner than others... this caused some frustration during the assembly... however I never aim at perfect points, so who cares!! :)

--Without even realizing it, I designed this mini for my Teal Swap partner... it's curved piecing again!!Well, with all this practice I am getting better!! :)

18'' x 18''

She said she likes country colors... I thought I didn't have any "country" colors because it's not my style at all... but this is where precut bundles come very handy: I had many charm packs and layer cakes where I pulled out the colors I liked... and guess what was left behind? "country" colors!! :)

I wanted to coordinate well with the teal fabric we were given and I really like the final effect and layout. I hope my partner will like it too!!

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Ok, seriously? When I checked the blocks that one of my Hello Block Swap partners for September wanted, guess what I found... Curved piecing again!! Oh well!! :)

--Back with my embroidery quotes from Stephen King books. The pictures are not that great, but I don't have time to take better ones so for now this will have to do :)

The Dark Tower

Wolves of the Calla

I will share the pattern eventually on Fandom in Stitches... if you want them before, just send me an email or leave a comment with your contact info and I will send it your way!--It's never too soon to start my Xmas decoration project!I make one handmade decoration for my tree each year... using all kind of techniques and materials. This year is cross stitching!!

It is not complete yet, so next week I will have a better picture, and maybe a pattern :)

--I have been using my Bullet Journaling system pretty consistently and I found that it helps me being creative and productive!!I will discuss the daily/weekly/monthly trackers next month, but these are just few collections that I really loved keeping up with

(Left) Zen art challenge: a little zentagle each day. Not my best work, but given the size of the notebook, I think it's pretty cool!

(Right) organizing my thoughts and activity for a "Lunch with Friends" I hosted last week. I am a single person, with a single kitchen and just two hands :) Having the full plan on what to cook and when (and what to clean) was essential to guarantee the success of the lunch!

"Doodle an Artist" collection! Every 15 days I will pick an artist (painter probably) and doodle elements from some of her/his pieces! First month: Salvador Dali!

I have no art training nor background, so keeping the doodles simple, no color, little shading is helping me a lot improving my sketching skills! I am officially Stealing like an Artist (cit. A. Kleon).

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

We were asked to create a pattern that depicts places on the way to our home, but it didn’t have to be our current home.

I picked Edinburgh, UK... it's not my home now, it's not were I grew up in... but I spent 3 months there and despite never visiting it before I immediately felt home, so I put together a row depicting my favorite spots in that amazing city!

And since this is a stiched row, I wanted to challenge myself and everyone else to try out different techniques! So each block within the row represents a postcard and it's done with a different technique.

The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. It is the largest monument to a writer in the world. It stands in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, opposite the Jenners department store on Princes Street and near to Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station, which is named after Scott's Waverley novels. In total (excluding Scott and his dog) there are 68 figurative statues on the monument of which 64 are visible from the ground. Sixteen heads of Scottish poets and writers appear on the lower faces, at the top of the lower pilasters. In total, 93 persons are depicted, plus two dogs and a pig.

The Edinburgh Castle. There has been a royal castle on the Castle Rock since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. The castle, in the care of Historic Scotland, is Scotland's most-visited paid tourist attraction, with over 1.4 million visitors in 2013. A series of performances known as the Edinburgh Military Tattoo (since 2010 the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo) takes place on the Esplanade each year during August. The basis of each performance is a parade of the massed pipes and drums of the Scottish regiments, and since its inception in 1950 the tattoo has developed a complex format which includes a variety of performers invited from around the world, although still with a largely military focus. The climax of the evening is the lone piper on the castle battlements, playing a pibroch in memory of dead comrades-in-arms, followed by massed bands joining in a medley of traditional Scottish tunes. The tattoo attracts an annual audience of around 217,000 people, and is broadcast in some 30 countries to a television audience estimated at 100 million.

The thisle is the floral emblem of Scotland. In the language of flowers, the thistle (like the burr) is an ancient Celtic symbol of nobility of character as well as of birth, for the wounding or provocation of a thistle yields punishment. It is also used to symbolise connection with Scotland overseas. For example, in Canada, it is one of the four floral emblems on the flag of Montreal; in the US, Carnegie Mellon University features the thistle in its crest in honour of the Scottish heritage of its founder, Andrew Carnegie.

The Heart of Midlothian is a heart-shaped mosaic, formed in coloured granite setts, built into the pavement near the St Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. It is a heart in front of a church... such a romantic place for marriages proposals... many tourists do that... DON'T DO IT :)It records the position of the 15th-century prison, and one of several sites of public execution. Visitors to Edinburgh will often notice people spitting on the Heart. Although it now said to be done for good luck, it was originally done as a sign of disdain for the former prison.
Sooo... now you know why it is not so great if you or your significant other get down on one knee in the center of the Heart ;)

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If this is your first time around here, WELCOME! If you are already a follower THANK YOU!

I just want to steal you two minutes to mention that I will be running a fun blog hop next month...

Make sure to subscribe to my blog if you want to receive updates about the fun Art with Fabric Blog Hop (all the info, participants, date are on this page).

I also share FREE patterns (Peanuts, Disney, Stephen King, and many many more) and I have a new creative obsession (Bullet Journaling) that I am sharing weekly with all my readers...

Even if this is the last board, you could still join and have the chance to win amazing prizes for the final giveaway of the QAL. Details on Monday on the link above!! Just send me an email or leave a comment below if you have questions!

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So... the only thing I made is assemble two of the blocks for my baby quilt from Melissa's Summer Solstice QAL. The only difficult part of these blocks is that at first you have a gazillion of pieces and pick all the ones for each single blocks takes a lot of time... now that I assembled 2, the pieces are much less, and the last ones will come together much quickly.

And now let's talk about my new obsession...
Few days ago (August 27th or 28th) YouTube included a video in my "suggested videos" list... the video had a very cool, artistic thumbnail and I watched it...

That's how I fell in the rabbit hole!! :)

My new obsession is BULLET JOURNALING!
I will have a separate page to collect links to my personal posts and links to the inspiring videos or collections that I see around.

I actually suggest to just make a google image search and you will be blown away!!! :)

These are the things I like about Bullet Journaling:

it's like having a planner, but it is much more flexible. There are hundreds of ways to have a "weekly spread", so why should you be stuck for an entire year with the same format?? Bullet journals allow you to experiment and find what works for you

you can have all your "things" in a single place (personal goals, things to track, creative ideas) so it's a great source of motivation and it encourages me to get things done!

you can go as crazy creative or as simple as you want. There are several daily challenges and groups that give you prompt to work on, but you can make it your own. And practice make you better! Practicing fancy cursive handwriting and little doodle is SOOOO relaxing.

there sooooo many people sharing their work on youtube (or instagram I guess... I don't do instagram) and you can get so many fun ideas to reuse in your own journal. I watched a video in which the guy showing his journal kept saying that he "stole" that design or spread from this or that, but I don't think it's stealing! I love copying a style and readapting to my own aesthetic: that's how we find our voice and how we learn. For example we all have a different handwriting style but we started by copying the alphabet from our teacher over and over and over again, right?? so I don't feel bad about "reusing" what others are doing! As Austin Keon says: "Steal like an Artist"!!

These are just few of my current pages... there are many more pages (which are much more creative), but I will share them probably next month when I have more tips and opinions about the process.

A spread to keep track of what I need send/receive in Sept, a weekly spread dividing personal and crafting activies and a page where I list some of the pages that I may want to add in the future in my bullet journal!

As you can see, the daily activities are not all crossed out, but still I can approach those outstanding tasks on another day and mark them as done. This is MY way of using the journal to make it work for ME :)
Plus I am just practising, on a small notebook, not a real bullet journal because I ordered the Quilter's Planner, and I will be using that as my main planning tool next year... but I want to get better at decorating pages with handwriting and doodles before it arrives!! :)